The present invention relates to a transfer apparatus for use in an image forming system of an electrophotography system, and particularly relates to a transfer apparatus having an improved guide member for guiding a transfer material, such as paper, to a transfer position.
Recently an image forming system in which an electrostatic latent image is formed on an image carrier such as a photoreceptor drum, developed and transferred onto a transfer material such as paper by means of a transfer apparatus, has been put into a practical use widely. Generally, in a transfer apparatus for use in such an image forming system, a feeding mechanism is provided on the upstream side of the photoreceptor drum, and a paper guide member for guiding paper to a transfer position on the photoreceptor drum is provided between this feeding mechanism and the photoreceptor drum.
As a conventional transfer apparatus provided with such a paper guide member, for example, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 58-10767. In this transfer apparatus, the paper guide member is constituted by a pair of guide members provided vertically in opposition to each other.
However, in such a conventional transfer apparatus, paper guided by the paper guide member is subjected to frictional resistance from guide surfaces of the two guide members of the paper guide member, so that the feeding cannot be performed smoothly. In addition, both surfaces of the paper are charged with electricity by friction to cause a state in which floating toner from a developing roller is apt to adhere to the paper to thereby make the paper dirty. Although it is therefore necessary to provide a measure to prevent such charging of electricity in the paper guide member, the charge preventing measure must be provided even on the guide member on the back surface side which is not related to the transfer surface of the paper, so that the structure is complicated and the cost is extremely high.